DHAKA (AFP) – Bangladesh released two leading human rights activists on bail, after they challenged their two-year sentences that critics say are part of a crackdown ahead of elections.
Adilur Rahman Khan, 63, and Nasiruddin Elan, 57, have led the Odhikar organisation for decades, working to document thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances of opposition activists, and police brutalities.
Last month, a court sentenced the pair to two years in prison over a fact-finding report they compiled 10 years ago on extrajudicial killings. Elan said he and Khan were freed from Dhaka Central Jail on Sunday evening after the high court granted them bail pending an appeal hearing.
“We are fine. I have just arrived at my home,” Elan told AFP, after spending a month in prison.
Several foreign governments have expressed concern over the political climate in Bangladesh ahead of general elections due before the end of January.
The ruling party dominates the Bangladeshi legislature and runs it as a virtual rubber stamp.
Odhikar has been documenting human rights violations in Bangladesh since 1994. It has worked closely with United Nations (UN) bodies and global human rights groups.
Last month, the UN voiced alarm at what it said was Bangladesh’s use of legal proceedings to intimidate and harass rights advocates and civil society leaders.
Both men “have faced harassment and intimidation”, UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in early September.
Dhaka reacted angrily to the UN comments, calling them a “flagrant disrespect” of the country’s justice system. Last year, the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina cancelled Odhikar’s operating licence after accusing it of tarnishing Bangladesh’s image, prompting a chorus of condemnation from rights advocates.
A group of 72 international rights groups had earlier condemned the sentencing and demanded the men be released.
